KVR Audio

skaibluemusic · Post by **skaibluemusic** » Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:13 am

What are the best and well priced websites (that you've used) for licensing a song so that I can remix it or use a sample of a hook of a song and put it into my song.

Any help would be great, thanks in advance.

low_low · Post by **low_low** » Thu Aug 09, 2018 11:19 pm

skaibluemusic wrote:What are the best and well priced websites (that you've used) for licensing a song so that I can remix it or use a sample of a hook of a song and put it into my song.

Any help would be great, thanks in advance.

If you're doing a cover, a mechanical license.

If you're actually using their recording, then you'd have to contact the copyright holder(s) and get a license (publisher and master recording)

Link to Harry Fox w/ info about licenses ...

http://www.harryfox.com/license_music/w ... cense.html

I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 6:01 am

low_low wrote:this isn't legal advice.

Ofcourse not, any advice given for free can't be legal advice. You got to be able to plead "deniable plausibility"

hhuang9611 · Post by **hhuang9611** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:21 pm

I have a similar question about remix... What if I just use a part of the melody from the song? No sample from the original, just midi clip or sheet music I figured out myself or provided by others.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Fri Aug 10, 2018 4:21 pm

hhuang9611 wrote:I have a similar question about remix... What if I just use a part of the melody from the song? No sample from the original, just midi clip or sheet music I figured out myself or provided by others.

That's what's called a mechanical license.
The original composer gets credited in the liner notes and you should negotiate a percentage of the profits (if any...) with the publisher of the original.

low_low · Post by **low_low** » Sat Aug 11, 2018 12:20 am

BertKoor wrote:
hhuang9611 wrote:I have a similar question about remix... What if I just use a part of the melody from the song? No sample from the original, just midi clip or sheet music I figured out myself or provided by others.
That's what's called a mechanical license.

The original composer gets credited in the liner notes and you should negotiate a percentage of the profits (if any...) with the publisher of the original.

Mechanical licenses are not negotiated, they are statutory "9.10¢ per copy for songs 5 minutes or less, or
1.75¢ per minute or fraction thereof, per copy for songs over 5 minutes." (see Harry Fox - https://www.harryfox.com/license_music/ ... rates.html).

Here you can see the history of these royalty rates and how they have changed over time here (https://www.harryfox.com/license_music/ ... rates.html)

"In American law, US Code Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 115(a)(2) states: "A compulsory license includes the privilege of making a musical arrangement of the work to the extent necessary to conform it to the style or manner of interpretation of the performance involved, but the arrangement shall not change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work ..." thus preventing mechanical licenses being used to make substantially derivative works of a piece of music." - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_license)

That said, since you're not intending to cover the whole song, the text below may be of more benefit to you, this from ASCAP ...

"Use a Sample

"Sampling" involves taking an existing piece of copyrighted music and combining it with another to create a new work. While sample usage has been especially prevalent in hip-hop and electronic music over the last 30+ years, samples have also been incorporated into other genres and present challenges in every scenario. Sample clearances are more complicated than cover songs since they can involve two separate copyrighted works (the music composition and the sound recording), multiple rights-holders, and are always subject to negotiation.

For instance, if you want to sample the synth line from Van Halen's "Jump", you would need to secure licenses from the record label (for the master), as well as the music publisher (for the underlying musical composition).

If you decided to re-create the synth part yourself as a music bed, it would still require negotiating directly with the music publisher (if they didn't decide to reject the use entirely). Unlike a mechanical license, sample usage is not governed by a compulsory license and requires directly negotiating with all parties. The cost can range from cheap (gratis) to costly depending on the sample(s) being used. Without licensing from the appropriate copyright owners, you are liable for copyright infringement and can be sued for substantial sums of money.

Record labels and music publishers alike have in-house licensing contacts who handle such requests (some even having online forms). There are several agents and legal consultants who specialize in sample clearance and can assist if you choose to hire one." - ASCAP (https://www.ascap.com/playback/2011/01/ ... light.aspx)

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Sat Aug 11, 2018 7:53 am

That's just Harry Fox' rates.

"Quoting" a melody is different than a full plain cover, so there IS room for negotiation.

this is not legal advice

Why the disclaimer? How could anyone get that impression? You could put that in your signature

low_low · Post by **low_low** » Sat Aug 11, 2018 9:24 am

BertKoor wrote:That's just Harry Fox' rates.

Untrue, that's the statutory rate.

This rate is set by three judges that make up the Copyright Royalty Board, which was created by the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004, which replaced the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel which is the group that used to set the statutory rates in the United States.

BertKoor wrote:"Quoting" a melody is different than a full plain cover, so there IS room for negotiation.

Plain covers require no negotiation. You simply pay the mechanical license fee and do it. When you make covers you are protected by Copyright law, you don't have to get permission from anyone, you just have to make sure you pay the mechanical licensing fee.

Quoting, otherwise known as sampling, requires a negotiated license.

BertKoor wrote:
this is not legal advice
Why the disclaimer? How could anyone get that impression? You could put that in your signature

What do you ^%$#ing care what I do.

I'M NOT A LAWYER AND THIS ISN'T LEGAL ADVICE .. just for you.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Wed Aug 22, 2018 6:42 am

So... there's this song played daily on a popular radio station we listen to at work: Playahitty - The Summer is Magic. In the chorus you constantly hear a synth verbatim playing the Axel F. motif.

According to Allmusic.com (easiest accessible source I could find) the song is composed by E. Asti. No credits given to H. Faltermeyer (the Axel F. theme composer)

So what's up there? Contracts are probably not discloses

low_low · Post by **low_low** » Wed Aug 22, 2018 10:31 am

BertKoor wrote:So... there's this song played daily on a popular radio station we listen to at work: Playahitty - The Summer is Magic. In the chorus you constantly hear a synth verbatim playing the Axel F. motif.

According to Allmusic.com (easiest accessible source I could find) the song is composed by E. Asti. No credits given to H. Faltermeyer (the Axel F. theme composer)

So what's up there? Contracts are probably not discloses

Yeah, I don't know ... maybe it's done as a derivative work with permission ?

Or maybe they just did it and figured they get away with it ?

I don't know.

Song Licensing for a remix.